International students celebrating the holidays at NAIT

The holidays are often a time that we spend with our family and friends. But what if your family was thousands of kilometres away?

Santa decorating the tree

Many of the 1,600 international students at NAIT are spending Christmas in Edmonton, away from home. One of the students is J.M. Andres, she is spending Christmas nearly 11,000 kilometres away from her home in the Philippines. Andres is part of the International Student Club, which put on an event last week where international students could help decorate a Christmas tree in the International Centre.  “I know it’s really hard for them to fly home and it’s really hard for them to stay around here in Canada, especially when they don’t have a family around, so we help them cope. It’s not just a club, it’s a family,” said Andres.

A train decoration running into the holidays

There is also a winter holiday celebration event taking place on the final day of final exams. This event is the international students first chance to de-stress and celebrate the holidays after exams.

One last touch to the tree

As well, throughout the break, the Holiday Host program takes place. This allows NAIT staff to host one or two international students to a holiday meal. International Engagement Coordinator Freya Fu took part in the Holiday Host program when she was at NAIT as an international student from China.  “I think it’s part of the experience of coming to Canada and learning how domestic culture and Canadian culture is. At the same time, Canada is so multicultural, so diverse. So it’s not all about the Canadian way, it’s about how we do it inter-culturally,” said Fu.

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